Descent From Grace: A Luxe Novella Book 1.5 (27 page)

With his fun smile plastered to his face, he said, “Yep. You gonna be there? I didn’t even think of that.”
  “You didn’t, huh? I just so happen to be going to the same party. Just a little question, does Ian Jacks know you’re going? And to be honest, I didn’t realize this was a big party.”
  “Oh, I don’t think it is. His apartment’s small. I’ve crashed a few of his parties.” Directing his attention toward the TV, he pushed play on the remote.

It elated her that he’d be there; it’d be a good distraction from Ian and Karen, but at the same time she knew he was dangerous. She was too attracted to him and it scared her because she didn’t think anyone would ever get remotely close to the status she held Ian at.

  “Hey.” She glanced at him. “You realize this is just my job, right?” Defense tactic against herself: remind him she wouldn’t be there if she weren’t being paid.

He looked at her and nodded coolly, then looked back at the television. She took a gulp of beer.

  “I mean if this wasn’t paid for, I wouldn’t be here.” She stared at his profile.

He was so attractive it was hard to even remember Ian in that moment. His black, curly, wavy mess of hair was tempting to touch, and his blue eyes were easy to stare into and study in a way she’d only studied Ian’s eyes.

Looking over nonchalantly, he said, “But you’d want to be.”
  “No,” she retorted quickly. “I’m in a relationship.”
His eyes narrowed on her stare and his full lips parted.

  “Not even a little?”

Lilith slowly shook her head no; it was a horrible lie and he knew it. The urge and arousal she had growing in her again gave her a cramp, but she ignored it, not wanting to look away from him.

Shifting so he could face her comfortably, he told her, “You’re the first date I’ve taken anywhere other than an event.” He reached out and pulled her hair from her lip, tucking it behind her ear. “I know this is all paid for and I’m fine with that, but don’t lie and tell me you don’t want to be here.” He spoke in a low, no nonsense tone that vibrated through her. “I’ll keep paying as long as you make me.”

Her soft inhale was audible and divulged what she was feeling, but she spoke firmly. “That’s going to be forever, Justin. You’re a good client of Luxe and I want my job.”
  “So I’ll keep paying.” He directed his attention to the TV again.

Lilith cleared her throat and looked toward the television. Her moral judgement was telling her to leave  because it felt so wrong making him pay, but being there with him felt so right.
  “I’ll never pay you to sleep with me though.” He glanced at her.
Her attention stayed on the TV. “I’ll never sleep with you.”
  “Guess that’s settled then.” He chuckled. “So how long you been in your relationship?”
  “We don’t need to talk about my personal relationship.”
  “I’m just wondering if they’ll be there tonight? At Ian’s?”
  “Justin.” She looked at him; her annoyance made him chuckle.
  “What? I want to know you.” He feigned innocence.
  “You’re paying two grand an hour to get to know me? Shouldn’t I be pretending to be interested in you?”
With an offended laugh, he said, “You don’t have to pretend.”

The realization that she couldn’t handle the date any longer hit her suddenly. Her urges for him were almost unbearable. She’d never felt it with any other person except Ian.

Taking a deep breath, she politely asked him, “What would you like to talk about? Please inform me of what exactly you’d like me to be doing right now.”
  “I want you to act like you want to be here. I’m paying you to act like I’m not paying for this.”

After a firm nod, she slipped her shoes off, lifting her feet under her butt and leaned into him a little. That wouldn’t be hard to do because she wanted to be there, but what would be hard would be not falling for him like it were a real date. He pushed her hair over her shoulder and looked at her earring.
Softly, she slid her hand up his right arm. “I like these.”

  “They get a lot of attention. I usually keep them covered. My dad fuckin’ hates me for them. You got any?”
  “No.” She stared at the intricate black and gray swirls of lilies, humming birds, and musical notes that seemed to be engulfing a woman. “Does it go up to your shoulder?”

  “Yeah.” He studied her studying his arm.

  “Both of them?” she looked into his eyes.
  “Both, and carry onto my chest to my back. My legs are done, an—”

Interrupting him with an intrigued grin, she asked, “Are you serious?” She couldn’t imagine what he looked like naked, she wanted to though.

He stared at his arm. “I like art,” he said, advocating his choices.

Tattoos being art never crossed her mind, but when he said it, she completely agreed, and he wore art well. They were never an interest, but at the same time she’d never seen anyone with tattoos like Justin’s. Uncle Rick had a botched up eagle on his upper arm, and Tony had unimpressive tribal on one of his upper arms. What she was looking at on Justin was different, the attention to detail and shading almost made the work appear 3-D.

Grabbing his left wrist, she blurted, “What’s the other arm?” She pulled his wrist toward her. “If I knew we’d be sitting on your couch looking over your tattoo’s I would have worn something else.” With a  chuckle, she adjusted the neck of her dress before her breasts spilled out.
  “I have something you can put on.”
  “No. Thank you.” She smiled at him then brought her attention back to his arm.

Similar to his right, his left arm held flowers, birds, and music notes with splashes of color.

  “These are lilies.” Her gaze went to his royal blue eyes.
  “Red calla lilies, my mom’s favorite.” His attention was on his arm while he pointed to the woman tattooed on his other bicep, not noticing her staring intently at his eyes.

  “Pretty,” she quietly said and swiped her finger over one of the colored lilies. “What was your first tattoo?”

He looked at her and smiled; she eagerly waited for the answer, but he laughed.

  “I really don’t remember,” he admitted. “I should, but I don’t. Apparently whichever one it was doesn’t hold much meaning.”

She blinked, telling herself to look away from his eyes, but her defiant body didn’t listen.

  “So your arms hold a lot of meaning?”
  “Most of my tattoos hold meaning. There’s a few shit ones, but I have good reasoning behind the rest.”

He enamored her and she realized she was still holding onto his arm; quickly letting go, she muttered, “Sorry.”

  “Here.” He moved closer to her and adjusted so he could slightly pull her toward him and put his arm around her stomach. “You can look that way if you want.”
  “I want to see all of it.” She said it and couldn’t take it back because he was already to his feet, pulling his t-shirt off.

When he revealed his hidden secrets, she inhaled sharply. Tattoos covered from his collarbone past the waist of his jeans, and as an added touch he was ridiculously fit. Through clothes it was obvious he was in shape, his arms bulged in his t-shirt showing his dedication, but seeing his washboard abs showed his obsessive dedication. The realization that she probably had an inappropriate expression of lust and surprise on her face set in and she quickly closed her lips, pulling her eyes away.
He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth stifling a laugh.

  “Can I get dressed now?” he asked with a small chuckle.

  “Please,” she breathed, staring at the TV.

With a grin, he pulled his shirt on, then handed her the beer. When he sat back down he could see how uncomfortable she was by her stiff body language.
  “What can you show me?” It took everything not to laugh after saying it, but he managed.

  “Excuse me?” She cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t think that’s paid for.”
  “It’s not, but you can show me whatever you want.”
  “I want to show you a lot,” she breathed, not meaning to divulge it with words.

She had an idea her face gave her away, but she didn’t mean to verbally confirm her desire for him.
  “I know you do.” He leaned into her, waiting for her to kiss him.
  “I’m in a relationship and you’re a client.”
  “Are you rejecting me or convincing yourself?”
  “Both.” She pulled away. “I don’t do sexual favors, Mr. Borg.”
  “Oh!” A loud laugh was released from his lips as he looked to the ceiling. “I’m Mr. Borg now, huh?”
  “You can be Justin when we’re in public, but alone, you’re only a client.” She quietly exhaled a shaky breath.
  “I’m more than that. I can be a few things if you want.”
  “Like what?” She knew she was taunting him, egging him on, but she couldn’t stop.
  “Well a client first and foremost. A friend? Boyfriend? Sexual desire?”
  “Sexual desire?” She laughed. “I’d have to desire you sexually for that to be true.”
  “Yeah you would.” He moved away from her. “Shh.” He pointed to the TV. “I’m missing the movie.”

With a smirk, she rolled her eyes. They silently stared at the TV, but not watching the movie. They were more focused on subtle flirtatious touching. She’d adjust slightly and touch him, or he’d push hair from her face while she pretended to ignore him. At one point when she shifted, her dress rode up her thigh, high, but she didn’t shift it. His eyes were fixated on the enticing skin and she could practically feel his gaze caressing her. When she looked over at him, he lifted his eyes to hers. The intensity in that stare reached an intimacy level that she only had with Ian.

Her ringing phone cut through the silent room like a fire alarm and pulled her out of her trance with a jump. They were so enthralled with their flirting game that they hadn’t realized the second movie in the DVD player started and it was already quarter after eleven.

Lilith jumped to her feet and pulled her phone from her purse. “Hello,” she quickly answered Tony’s call.

  “It’s quarter after.”
  “I’m coming out right now.” She glanced at Justin who stretched.

His shirt rose up, exposing his cut, tattooed hipbones. She pictured being on her knees licking that tattoo that dipped into the front of his pants. Snapping out of it, she slipped on her shoes quickly and looked at him, unsure what she should say. They hadn’t spoken for a while and not a second of it was awkward.

  “I’ll walk you to the door.”

Sexually frustrated and uncomfortably wet between her legs, she walked behind him. She wasn’t ready to have sex, but her libido was in full effect.

The question of was he going to show up at Ian’s was on the tip of her tongue, but that wasn’t what came out. “Keep me in mind for your next event.”
  “You’ll be on my mind.” He pulled open the door.

  “Night.” Attempting to appear collected and calm, she ambled out to the car.

When Tony closed the door behind her, he gave Justin a slight nod. Lilith exhaled loudly before he got into the car.

  “Stop at my house. I need to change.”

At home, she cleaned herself up, took another pain pill, then threw on tight jeans and a low cut shirt she knew Ian would have a hard time avoiding.

Ian’s apartment was loud and absurdly packed. There were people everywhere and she had no idea who they were. When Ashley approached her, the girls hugged for a few long minutes.

  “How are you feeling?” she whispered in Lilith’s ear.
  “Good.” Lilith smiled, feeling the effects of the third pain pill she took in a six-hour span.

He’s still the passenger

I hear Lily’s laugh and my ears perk up. I glance at Karen who’s in the corner with her friend I didn’t invite, then make my way toward the kitchen where I heard Lily’s laughter. I fucking missed her. There’s an inappropriate smile across my face that I can’t shake until Ashley hits me in the stomach and I double from the unprepared blow. Lily steps forward, putting her hand on my shoulder, but Ashley quickly pulls her away. She can’t tend to me right now anyway.

I watch Ashley pull her into the kitchen and Heidi’s right behind them. Heidi and Renee showed up about twenty minutes ago and everything’s been fine thus far because Karen’s been distracted by her friend. I’m kind of afraid to go into the kitchen with both the girls because Lily wasn’t happy when I told her Heidi watched us, but I want to see Lily, even if it is just me standing there, staring at her.

I walk into the kitchen and head straight for her, pinning her to the counter with my hip and kiss her like I haven’t seen her in a few days. Not until I pull away and see the pain on her face do I remember what she’s going through.

As a warning, Ashley loudly says, “Karen, I like that shirt!”

Lily pulls away and Ashley grabs both hers and Heidi’s hand, leaving the kitchen.

  “What the hell?” Karen let’s out a drunk laugh; Ashley’s compliment has her stunned. If she only knew. “I feel really drunk. Do you think I should stop drinking?” She looks drunk, too drunk.

  “No.” I hand her what’s left of my drink and she laughs.
  “Are you trying to get me drunk and take advantage of me?” She’s grinning and I put on a fake smile.

  “You don’t need to make yourself sick to the point of throwing up.”
  “I won’t, babe.” Her arms are thrown around my neck. I kiss the corner of her mouth and pull away before anyone enters the kitchen.